Some movie projects orbit the edges of entertainment news in a seemingly endless cycle of vague updates, pre-production rumors, and innumerable creative hand-offs. These ephemeral properties don't seem to inhabit Development Hell as much as they do Development Purgatory.

A prime example of these whispered-of but little-seen ghost-projects is the classic video game adaptation Asteroids. Announced three years ago, Asteroids immediately gained a reputation as another instance of Hollywood scraping the bottom of the creative barrel. After years of vague plot reports and script changes, it appears that the production has taken on yet another writer: scripter Jez Butterworth.

According to a short article published by Variety, the Asteroids film adaptation has signed Jez Butterworth to revise and restructure the film's existing screenplay. The movie's script was previously tackled by Matt Lopez (Race to Witch Mountain) and Evan Spiliotopoulos (Wanted 2). Asteroids has always been the pet project of producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura, one of the major producers behind the Transformers series.

The acquisition of Butterworth to rework the Asteroids script may be a coup for the production. Butterworth has more experience in scripting than either of his predecessors, having written screenplays for The Last Legion and Fair Game. He also has experience as a director and actor. Whether he channeled this experience into a workable Asteroids script is, as ever, up in the air.

'Asteroids' has seen numerous graphical updates over the years.

An undeniable limbo project, Asteroids has spent years as an "upcoming release" with no clear timetable for production. Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura gave a brief description of an early plotline, saying that it involves, "…two estranged brothers that must team up to save Earth from an alien race." Despite insisting that a "strong, deep mythology" has been built for the film, one can only imagine that the number of changes in writers and scripts reflects the difficulty of "adapting" a video game that literally dates from the first days of the medium. The Asteroids production seems to share more than a few traits with Battleship– which is to say that a completely plotless IP is going to be used to sell a generic special effects extravaganza.

That said, the upgrade to a more experienced writer may allow Asteroids to rise above its rather hollow beginnings. Also, the lack of solid source material can be as much of a boon as it is a hindrance. If the film actually does follow up on the promise of a rich mythos, it could transcend its arcade cabinet origins and become a fun new science fiction property. One can only hope that the movie will be more than two-and-a-half hours of exploding space rocks.

The Star published an article about durians from elsewhere being passed off as those from Balik Pulau. How does one tell if a durian is really from Balik Pulau and not from Kulim, Bukit Mertajam or Taiping?

Freshly picked Balik Pulau durians.

For most, a durian is a durian is a durian no matter where it is from. However, for the connoisseurs the subtle differences in taste can be very obvious. And Balik Pulau is said to produce the best durians anywhere.

If one has been savouring Balik Pulau durians long enough, one can tell the subtle difference in tastes between an ang heh from Balik Pulau and one from Batu Kurau. The one from Balik Pulau has a stronger pungent odour and a more intense taste that lingers longer in the mouth and hand.

First things first, we need to realise that most of the popular durians like ang heh,khun poh ang and hor lor are no longer harvested from the original trees. There can only be one original tree and from a specific plantation. Due to popularity and demand, they are stem grafted from the original tree or from stems from budding seeds and cultivated in other plantations to increase yield and profit.

These durians may not taste exactly the same as those from the original tree because of soil conditions and other geographical factors. Likewise, durians from other places just do not taste the same like those from Balik Pulau due to those same factors.

The telling characteristics of a specific durian cultivar are the shape, size and colour of the thorns, and the size and shape of the fruit itself. Truth be told, after so many years of savouring Balik Pulau durians, I am still not good at identifying a durian by those characteristics but a durian planter or seller can tell with just a glance which cultivar a durian is from.

The other characteristics to look out for are the shape of the pangsa (the compartments in the fruit that holds the flesh and seed), and colour, texture, taste and aroma of the flesh, and the size of the seed. Each cultivar has a specific colour and taste that is unique.

For example, cheh puay has flesh that is a shade of bright yellow with very creamy, sweet, rich and sticky texture. On the other hand, ang heh has a mild pleasant aroma, not overly sweet and has a smooth texture with hints of pink in the flesh and pangsa that resembles a big prawn, hence its name.

Durians, be they from Balik Pulau or elsewhere, share those same general characteristics. So how do we determine that a Balik Pulau durian as claimed by the durian seller is really from Balik Pulau?

The important fact to remember is that durian season in Balik Pulau usually lasts from June to August. Any durian that is claimed to be from there in other months is probably not genuine.

I remember a story that my cousin Peter recounted. He was at a durian stall selecting durians and asked the seller where those fruits were from.

"Balik Pulau," the guy told him.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"Yes, from Balik Pulau," came the confident reply.

Now, Peter grew up in a durian plantation in Balik Pulau. Our great grandfather cultivated durians. So did our grandfather. Peter's father who is my maternal uncle is still cultivating durians there. And he knew for sure that Balik Pulau durians were out of season then.

So he challenged the durian seller, "Lets go to Balik Pulau. If there's even one single durian on the tree, I'll eat the roots and twigs of that tree."

There was not another peep from the durian seller after that. Peter caught the durian seller red handed but imagine how many unsuspecting customers the seller had cheated and profited from. The only way to ensure that the durian is genuinely Balik Pulau is to personally pick the fruit after it has dropped from the tree. Otherwise, one has to trust the durian seller. That is also the reason why I only get my Balik Pulau durians from the one source that I can trust.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, December 13th, 2012 at 08:36 and is filed under Penang Food.
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